Mayor de Blasio won’t rule out running for president in 2020

Mayor Bill de Blasio speaking during a presser announcing Fair Fares campaign at 125th Street subway station in Manhattan on Friday, January 4, 2019. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)

Blaz for Prez?

Mayor de Blasio refused to rule out running for president in 2020 in an interview Sunday.

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“I never rule things out, because you never know what life brings,” de Blasio told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

The remarks cap off a week of de Blasio courting national press for proposals like mandated paid vacation and expanded access to existing city healthcare programs.

While he told Tapper he was “focused” on his current work he said he was also eager to ditch City Hall and take his show on the road.

“I’m focused on the job I have but I’ve also been really clear — I’m going to spread this message,” he said.

De Blasio argued the party was facing serious questions in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election — and that he needed to be part of the conversation.

“There are still a lot of moderate voices in the party that did not learn the lessons of 2016, that are not listening to what people need in this country,” he said. “So I want to push this whole party and I want to inform this debate in this country about the fact that we could go a lot farther, we could be a lot bolder than what we’re doing now.”

De Blasio was re-elected as mayor in 2017 and his term runs through the end of 2021 — meaning he’d have to cut his mayoralty short and spend much of his second term out of town if he does actually make a White House bid.